ASH 2014: Dr. Kipps explains ROR1 and how CLL is really treated in the community

[bkoffman]

When I had a chance at ASH (American Society of Hematology) 2014 to interview my doctor, Dr. Tom Kipps, he first talked about the ROR1 trials that has recently opened at UCSD. This has been his research passion for years and is finally in trials. So far, so good. ROR1 holds the promise to be the perfect cancer target: found on our cancer cells, including possible CLL stem cells, and not on much else.

Keeping in mind that in all likelihood, a curative therapy is going to include a biological or immune approach, so it is important to know about ROR1. I have included links to more background and the clinical trials.

In the second part segment of the interview, Dr. Kipps discussed the findings on how CLL is actually treated in the real world. Guess what! It is not according to the latest guidelines, as he explains and

These two interviews can be found in the conference coverage (past years) section of the website: cllsociety.org

Expect video updates on the website every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the rest of the month.

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Brian

cllsociety.org

bkoffman.blogspot.com

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

As you said Brian, in the introduction to the interview where Dr. Kipps discussed the findings on how CLL is actually treated in the real world, an increasing lymphocyte (ALC) count i.e. "Progressive lymphocytosis was used as the reason for initiating therapy in one out of every three patients, yet it is probably the weakest of all the indications for treatment." (My emphasis.)

cllsociety.org/2015/05/dr-t...

Dr Con Tam said much the same when asked about this in a Leukaemia Foundation CLL teleconference earlier this year. His response to the questioner was "How do you feel?", in other words, if you feel otherwise well, then this symptom on its own is not a trigger for commencing treatment.

Judging by recent queries to this community, we still have a long way to go getting that message out there.

Neil